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" How to Turn Prospects Into Customers?"

By Terry Dean

If you have ever been a salesperson or worked
in any type of sales field, the session they spend the LONGEST
time on is how to close your prospects. You can lead them all
the way up to the sale where they are ready to sign, but you have
to get them to sign the dotted line. You have to be an effective
closer if you are ever going to be good at sales.
Some sales classes will devote 90% of their time to teaching you
how to close the prospects. I have read books with 100s of different
types of closes for selling. Yet, in printed advertising, most
advertising books and 90% of advertisers don't do anything to
close their prospects.

If you can't close, you can't sell. If you can't
close your prospect through your sales letter, then you can't
write sales letters. That is the reason we have devoted an entire
section to showing you how to close your prospects in printed
advertising. If you can't close your prospects, it doesn't matter
how excited you get them through the rest of the letter.

The close I generally use consists of 5 major
elements:

Scarcity Or the Take-Away

Action

Warning

Take Action Now

P.S.

Every single sales letter I write contains those
5 elements to close my prospects. They are so important, I want
to make sure we cover each one in detail.

#1 - Scarcity

This is where you tell your prospect how this
offer is scarce. You only have a few of them left, the offer is
only good for seven days, etc. The purpose of it is to get your
prospects to act now.

How many times have you received something in
the mail and said, 'I want this...After I speak to my wife or
friend about it." Then, you file it away on or in your desk
never to be heard from again. You plain forget about it.

Unless you add an element of scarcity to your
products or services, this is what will happen to ALL of your
sales letters. They will end up forgotten in the heap of junk
mail everyone receives every day, even if they wanted your product.

You have to give your prospects a reason to order
now. Here are some scarcity techniques or examples you can adapt
and use for your sales letters:

Is available only for a limited time

Is available only for the next 7 days

Is available only till April 15th (Any date
could be here)

Is available at the discount price for a
limited time

Is available with the Free Bonuses for a
limited time

Is almost out of stock..."We only have
50 left!"

You will be out by the end of the week

There are more ideas you could come up with to
make them take action now as long as they do two things.
#1 - They have to be honest...You can't say you will raise your
prices on April 15th if you are not going to do it.
#2 - They make your prospects have to take action now or lose
out on something (Fear of Loss)
The absolute best option is the actual date the offer is good
until. Listing a literal date such as April 15th, May 1st, December
31st, etc. will cause the best reaction of all. The disadvantage
of this avenue is that you have to do it right!

If you don't get the sales letter mailed 2 weeks
in advance (14 - 21 days in advance), your offer will bomb BIG
TIME. You have to have complete control over your mailing (And
printing) to be able to use that type of scarcity tactic. If you
do have that control though, go for it!

#2 - Action

You now want your prospects to take action. To
do this, you will want to make it as simple as possible and tell
them EXACTLY what to do to order. We discussed this somewhat in
the order form section, but it bares repeating here. You need
to tell them every option for ordering in detail. Tell them what
to do.

"In order for you to start getting ____________(List
2 or three of your benefits here separated by commas), pick up
the phone and dial these 11 numbers: 1-800-000-0000"

"Or Simply fill out the Enclosed Trial Certificate
to begin your 90 day evaluation of __________________(Name the
product here)"

Don't ever assume your prospects know how to
order. As a matter of fact, never assume anything. Your prospects
want you to tell them what to do so they don't have to think about
it. Make it easy and Keep it simple.

#3 - Warn

Now that you have told them how to order your
product, you must make them come to the realization of what life
is like without your product. People like comfort and they dislike
change. Since your product represents some kind of change to them,
you are going to have to do something to overcome this problem.

You MUST warn them what their life will be like
without your product. Warn them what it is like to stay in the
status quo. How will their life be in 10 years if they don't get
your product? What will happen to their business if they don't
get your product? What are they giving up if they ignore your
sales letter?

You are going to have to answer these questions
yourself. Then warn your prospects. You told them what they would
get and how to order. Now, tell them WHY they shouldn't put it
off in no uncertain terms. Use desire and/or fear to make sure
your prospects realize that the status quo is no good and that
they have no other choice but to order your product.

People don't buy products. They buy solutions.
What will happen to them if they don't get your solution? You
must tell them every little detail about this to get the sale.

# 4 - Take Action Now!

Now you will repeat how to order and why they
must order right now or else miss out on the chance of their lives.
Tell them that this is the chance of their lifetimes and that
they can't miss out on _____________ (Insert Benefits Here) or
they will regret it for the rest of their lives. If they don't
take action now, they will never have any of those _____(Benefits
here).

Once you have this combined set of closing techniques,
people can barely stand to turn down your amazing offer. This
is there last chance to order and let them know that they have
to do it now.

Finish this off with a salutation and with your
signature. There are many ways to end your letter...Sincerely,
Sincerely Yours, Yours in Success, etc. Then, sign your sales
letter.

Wait. You are not done yet. You still have to
add your P.S.

#5 - P.S.

Having a P.S. is vital in every sales letter
you create. This is often one of the first things your prospects
look at...because it is an overview of the sales letter.

There are a couple of techniques for creating
your P.S. My favorite one is to use the first P.S. To repeat the
offer and the deadline for ordering. Then, I will go on to a P.P.S.
in which I will state an overview of the FREE Bonuses they get
for ordering.

You could also use 3 or more P.S.'s. The first
one would name the #1 benefit of your product again and maybe
the warning. The P.P.S. would include the offer and deadline.
The P.P.P.S. would include the Free Bonuses or mention the most
powerful of the Free Bonuses.

Whichever type of P.S. or combo you use, you
must use one. I always repeat the offer and deadline in at least
one of the P.S. so if you only have space for one, do that.

RESOURCES

Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques he tests and Uses Every Single Month" Click here to Find Out More: http://www.netbreakthroughs.com